It was a 19th-century song that piqued Day Al-Mohamed’s interest in a little-known group of Union soldiers in the U.S. Civil War. It was not a celebratory song.
“It made fun of them,” said Al-Mohamed, who has researched what was known as the Invalid Corps, a group of soldiers left disabled by injury or disease and put into service toward the end of the war.
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The documentary Al-Mohamed made about the Invalid Corps will be among the myriad offerings at next week’s DC History Conference, presented by the DC History Center. Registration is open for the conference, which runs March 31 through April 2, primarily at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library.
Al-Mohamed said the most grievously wounded Union soldiers went home, but others were retained to free up able-bodied soldiers for more dangerous duties.
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“They weren’t supposed to be put on the front lines,” she said. “They were supposed to guard prisons, or work at supply depots as clerks or in hospitals.”
In at least a few instances, the front lines came to them, including at Fort Stevens. When Confederate forces invaded the District in July of 1864, members of the Invalid Corps were among the most experienced troops facing them.
“They'd all seen combat in some form or another,” Al-Mohamed said.
About 40,000 men served in various Invalid Corps units. They did not relish their experience.
“They hated it,” said Al-Mohamed.
Back then, units were organized geographically, so soldiers enlisted with their neighbors, their brothers, their cousins — and fought alongside them, too.
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“These Invalid Corps were from all over,” Al-Mohamed said. “The only thing they had in common was they were injured.”
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A disability rights advocate who travels with her guide dog, Gamma, Al-Mohamed said exploring the hidden history of the Invalid Corps has made her think about who controls culture.
When it comes to notable disabled figures in U.S. history, “we get Helen Keller, FDR and Stevie Wonder. That’s it. It’s important for the disability community to retain control of their own cultural legacy.”
About the only art movement associated with the District is the Washington Color School, characterized by the bright lines of painters such as Gene Davis. Another conference session hopes to broaden that canvas, said Jonathan Frederick Walz, moderator of “Enlarging the (Color) Field: Rethinking the Washington Color School.”
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Mary Pinchot Meyer is the artist panelist Mollie Berger Salah thinks we should know more about.
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“She’s staining canvas and color is the primary component of the work,” Walz said. Meyer shared a studio with Anne Truitt, and her contemporaries included Kenneth Noland, both respected District artists.
“She's working fairly similarly,” said Walz.
Meyer’s artistic life has been overshadowed by her death: She was shot on the C&O Canal towpath in a murder that remains unsolved.
Another artist who deserves more attention is Alma Thomas, one of the first Black women to earn a bachelor’s degree in art (from Howard). Panelist Miriam Grotte-Jacobs will explore her life and work.
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Finally, there’s Kenneth Victor Young, whose canvases blossomed with balls of color.
“He had a day job as an exhibition designer for the Smithsonian, but he also made his own work and showed it professionally,” Walz said. “He’d kind of become forgotten.”
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Walz said Young’s work has garnered attention in recent years as people have become more interested in abstract art by African American artists. Panelist Sarah Battle will present her research on him.
In April of 1966, National Airport began welcoming jet airplanes. The noisy planes were not so welcome to the people living along the flight path. These included residents of the Palisades, the neighborhood overlooking the Potomac River in Northwest Washington.
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The community group’s fight against noise is the subject of a conference session by Joanna Grisinger.
One of the arguments made by the citizens group was that jets were more suited to a new airport, one that wasn’t surrounded by homes. Said Grisinger: “The neighborhood thinks it has a pretty good case: ‘Why not just send the jets to Dulles instead of plaguing us with all this noise?’ ”
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But the four-year-old Loudoun County airport had few fans. Dulles was remote, without convenient public transportation. Passengers didn’t like it. That meant airlines didn’t want to fly there either.
At the same time, the Civil Aeronautics Board was considering approving helicopter service among Dulles, National and what was then Friendship Airport, today’s BWI. A commercial heliport was also planned for downtown Washington.
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“A lot of people are saying helicopters are a great solution to the problem of getting people to Dulles,” Grisinger said. “You know what also produces a lot of sound? Helicopters.”
Palisades residents argued that decisions about things like flight paths and helicopter service shouldn’t be made without assessing the impact on the community.
“In a judicial decision, the court says you do have to consider noise as part of the public interest,” she said.
And in the end, the helicopter hub was never built.
The DC History Conference is free. For information — and to register — visit dchistory.org.